Jamie Foxx

Born in small town Texas and raised by his grandparents, Jamie Foxx found early success on the comedy club circuit, before joining the cast of the Wayans brothers' sketch TV show In Living Color. He then starred in his own self-titled sitcom for several years before making the switch to feature films. Despite being known primarily as an actor/comedian, his first love was always music, and he actually released a little-heard debut album entitled Peep This back in 1994. In 2004, he sang the hook on Twista's smash hit "Slow Jamz," and people everywhere took note of his smooth vocal abilities. That same year he dazzled audiences with his turn as Ray Charles in the biopic Ray, where he flexed his pipes again, singing all of the songs in the film and taking home a Best Actor Oscar for his performance. One of his tunes from the film was sampled by Kanye West as the basis for "Gold Digger," another No. 1 hit. In late 2005, he released Unpredictable, a collection of glossy R&B tracks featuring collabos with Kanye West and Ludacris among others. The album debuted at No. 2 on the charts, and soon rose to the top spot.